Little Hoover Commission hears debate over governor’s plan to split BCSH and create California Housing and Homelessness Agency

The Little Hoover Commission on Wednesday, April 23, heard testimony on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to split the state’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency and create a stand‑alone California Housing and Homelessness Agency (CHHA), plus a new Housing Development and Finance Committee to centralize developer‑facing financing.

Tamika Moss, secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, told commissioners the proposal “will create the necessary organizational structure to advance our housing and homelessness goals” and argued that a cabinet‑level housing secretary would be able to focus attention and coordination across departments.

Why it matters: supporters say the change could shorten a fragmented financing process that developers blame for delays and higher per‑unit costs; critics and some commissioners pressed the administration for numbers on the cost of standing up a new agency, how it would interact with the treasurer’s offices that oversee tax credits and bonds, and how success would be measured.

Most important facts

- The administration proposed splitting BCSH into two agencies and creating a Housing Development and Finance Committee to centralize many state affordable housing finance programs and set a single application process.

- Secretary Tamika Moss and HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez said the change is intended to speed construction and lower costs. Velasquez told commissioners the agency’s goal is to “produce more homes, faster, cheaper.” The department reported it has helped fund nearly 60,000 affordable homes in recent years but acknowledged the state remains well short of the target used by planners (2,500,000 homes over the next eight years).

- Commissioners repeatedly pressed the administration for a cost estimate for creating two cabinet…